AN: Well that was more reviews than I was expecting. I really appreciate all the lesson suggestions. They're awesome and there are several I have already made plans to work into the story. I am aware that these chapters are shorter. I may try shooting for longer chapters soon, but the next few are going to be pretty short.
"Okay then moving on to ghasts," Seras announced happily.
Alucard chuckled at the reactions; the topic change seemed to have caught everybody off guard. The class jumped at the evil chuckle, not yet used to Alucard's disturbing sense of humor.
"Right!" Seras clapped and everybody jumped again, "Ghasts. Any ideas on how to deal with one?"
"They're not immune to magic and spells, right?" Hermione recounted unsurely.
"That is correct," Alucard purred at her.
"Then why don't you just hit one with a cutting curse and drive it away? They're also known for being skittish," Malfoy stated.
"Because any nearby vampire, neutralized or not, would come and kill you," Alucard stated off-handedly.
Hermione considered this, "Are ghasts even dangerous to humans? They're literally just corpse eaters. I mean that's creepy and gross, but not particularly dangerous."
"Exactly," Seras nodded, "ghasts are not dangerous to living humans. The worst thing they will do is take a bite of ghoul infected flesh and prevent you from turning into a ghoul. Most humans would consider that the lesser of two evils."
"Any human flesh that has been infected by a ghoul is already dead. Hence, ghasts consider it food regardless of whether or not it is attached to a living human." Alucard finished for her.
Seras looked at the class, "Any more questions?" The class was becoming increasingly distracted by their proximity to the forbidden forest as the forest became darker.
Alucard turned to face the forest, "Then I believe that it is time for some show and tell." The professor's words seemed to echo ominously throughout the clearing, then were swallowed as they radiated too far into the dank forest.
The students gasped as a pale streak raced between the trees, never staying in one place long enough to discern it's true form. Then suddenly it stopped. One of the girls shrieked. It's head snapped to look towards the source of the noise. It was still distant and shrouded in shadow but they could make out two sunken eyes with glowing irises and a mouth that was far too wide for the humanoid head it resided on. While they were still processing this new revelation it had already started racing directly towards them. Even hindered by the forest, it was clear that it was far too fast to outrun, so they cowered internally and stood like deer in headlights.
The pale demonic creature tore from the forest's gloom, a distorted shriek of joy emanating from between its needle-like teeth. It ran past the students to tackle Alucard who withstood the tremendous impact, which would have easily flattened any of them, without so much as flinching. To the students' surprise, instead of looking aggravated at the eerie monster running directly into him, he smiled and ran his fingers through the things short hair. Their harsh vampiric professor was petting the creature like some sort of mutated dog.
They could just make out the strange creatures raspy purring when a breeze came and they rapidly discovered that they were unfortunately downwind from both Alucard and the creature. The whole class immediately gagged, eyes watering from the awful stench carried on the breeze. There was no question, the reek was emanating from the newly arrived creature. They could only assume this horrible thing was a ghast.
Alucard chuckled lightly seeing the students' reactions. Their hands were pressed over their mouths and noses in hopes of stifling their sense of smell and taste. Red eyes watched him with concern as he failed to either speak or take action. Instead, they all jumped as Seras spoke, seemingly unaffected by the horrid stench of rot and decay that wafted off the creature in waves they could almost taste; the creature that was still cuddling their insane professor. "Class, this is Spot. By now I'm sure that you've realized that Spot is a ghast. Completely harmless to humans, though their appearance can be unnerving and they have a natural scent that humans can find somewhat off-putting."
Several students blatantly rolled their eyes at the very concept that the stench assaulting their noses and searing their sinuses could ever possibly be considered simply off-putting. "Try not to approach him too quickly. Ghasts are rightfully wary of humans since humans are often violent towards them." Seras continued, "Though, they are affectionate towards vampires, and incredibly loyal. They quite happily assume the role of affectionate pets." The class was staring at he dubiously.
"Can you not smell that?" Malfoy blurted out, hardly able to open his mouth to speak for fear of introducing any more of the stench into his sinuses. "Don't vampires have a sense of smell that is keener than a humans? Couldn't you have at least given the thing a bath?" The class found themselves nodding as they agreed with the blunt questioning.
"Hmm," Alucard looked up from petting the ghast, "yes, but we find the scent pleasant. Ghasts literally smell like death. Vampires are quite at peace amongst death in all its forms, whereas humans are instinctually averse." He nuzzled the ghasts head, "And a bath wouldn't do much. He's clean, he just has a scent."
Alucard released the ghast as Seras suddenly pulled out a orange plastic skull and threw it amid the students. Spot instantly sprang after and deftly caught it midair in is mouth. His jaw distended far beyond what a human could ever hope to achieve. The students cringed away as he sprang back up and dropped it in Seras' outstretched palm. This continued for a few more rounds of fetch when she looked back to the class and asked, "Does anyone else want to try? He's really quite friendly."
The class remained silent. It wasn't as if they didn't believe that the thing was friendly. They'd seen that much with their own eyes. It was more that they were incredibly hesitant to get any closer to the vampires strange, and smelly, pet. "Hagrid?" Seras continued, seeing that the class didn't seem inclined to respond.
Hagrid looked pleased at the opportunity and stepped forward to retrieve the miniature plastic skull from Seras. He thanked her and immediately launched to toy. Spot tore after it yet again but hesitated as he saw Hagrid on his return trip. He looked to Seras, who was nodding encouragingly, then back to Hagrid, then back to Seras, and back to Hagrid. Seras stepped beside the half giant, who was standing still and trying to look as unthreatening as he possibly could, though seriously...the ghast had just cuddled with Alucard, how it found him intimidating was beyond his comprehension. Spot inched towards the pair slowly, sniffing the air. He seemed satisfied with whatever he sensed because he dropped the skull in Hagrid's hand and the game began anew. They happily continued their game even as Seras distanced herself from Hagrid.
"Does anyone have any questions about ghasts after interacting with one?" She asked as she returned to her place between the class and the forest.
The students had just begun to consider what they were going to ask when they were startled by the gruff sound of Hagrid's hearty laughter. Their eyes went wide when they saw Hagrid and Spot playing tug-o-war with the skull. Spot had the skull grasped solidly between his teeth while Hagrid had his hand in Spot's mouth grasping the skull trying to pry it away. That wasn't what had kept their attention though. The most surprising thing was that Hagrid appeared to be losing to the scrawny pale creature. It looked so wrong, but there it was, the slight form of the ghast was easily pulling around the massive grounds-keeper. Hagrid slipped on the damp grass and laughed even harder as he hit the ground with a solid thwump.
Ron looked to Seras, "Exactly how strong are ghasts?"
Seras looked to Alucard. She had never really considered their strength until now. It was such a non-issue when they were so skittish around humans that they only really interacted with undead. They were weak when compared to a vampire, but that really didn't mean much.
Luckily, he had an answer. "Much stronger than humans, but nowhere near as strong as a vampire. They can easily carry several fully-grown human corpses at a time."
After that sickening fact the rest of the class watched Hagrid happily play with Spot while being constantly surprised by its unexpectedly impressive showing of strength, speed, and flexibility. They idly wondered about where ghasts came from, but after the previous answers, the dared not ask. After all, they could only assume that the answer would further ruin their dinners.
**Shout out to Maroongrad for her awesome stories. Spot is her character from the story "4 Succession"**